Young adults and middle-grade audiences having books they can connect to on various topics, including tough ones like eating disorder recovery, is urgent. However, this book would not be amongst my top recommendations for patrons and families, if only because the characters lack a lot of depth, and the side characters/support system are portrayed as completely unaware and uninvested (which does not change too much in the end). I think I was left confused on the purpose of the book (is it about the protagonist's descent? their identity and perceived role as a "smart girl,"? the family divorce and dynamics? A book can certainly contain all, but a but of focus can be helpful) but it is a quick read nonetheless. ( )

Thank you to Lily Myers, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Philomel Books, and NetGalley for this free honest reviewer copy of "This Impossible Light."

This is another piece, like Solo, where poetry felt like it was behind every etching within this work. It was so powerfully, purely, and stylistically an art form that raised far above the prose novels that could be listed as its contemporaries.

I felt like it spoke to a completely different part of my mind and heart, several times lending to me being in tears due to the content about body images, eating disorders, and how we all see out self-worth (especially how these are impacted by our background, our upbringing, and the relationships we have with our mothers and daughter). ( )

Lily Myers does such a great job of really pulling you into Ivy's head in "This Impossible Light" and showing the way her self-image and sense of stability slowly crumble as she falls deeper into the stages of her eating disorder. This is a quick read, but a very effective one. I love the way Ivy reflects on very small details... family vacations... a fish shaped waffle iron that made Saturday mornings cozy... Myers does an outstanding job at making the comforting life she's mourning tangible and oh so easy to picture.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author. ( )

This Impossible Light is a book written in verse that deals with the heavy and not always pleasant topics of body image, eating disorders, divorce, loneliness, depression and the relationships between mothers and daughters. While reading Myer’s verses you can’t help but to be drawn into Ivy’s world, where everything is falling apart.

The summer before Ivy’s first year, her parents decide to get divorced. To make matters worse, her older brother Sky is moving out, and her best friend Anna has been distant after being away for three months in Paris. Everything seems to be going against her will, but the one thing Ivy feels she can control is her body.

Lily Myers creates a deep and haunting tale in This Impossible Light. She does not shy away from perfectly expressing those hidden moments of loneliness, pain, sadness most people never show to those around them. As well as the struggles of those suffering/dealing with depression and especially eating disorders go through. How every day they must wake up to face those same demons over and over again, while at the same time, those closest to them have no idea anything is wrong. It is so sad, but so brutally true.

Through the elegant and powerful verse of This Impossible Light we are told Ivy’s story. We see her journey and struggles and (thankfully) her process towards recovery with help from her family and friends. I am so glad that the author focused only on Ivy. Myers did not feel the need to “throw in” any romantic situations. I feel if she had done so it might have distracted the reader from the truth of the story.

This Impossible Light filled me with a variety of feelings, and gave me so much to think about and process. While never in the same situation as Ivy, my past self can completely relate to some of the darkness she feels. If you are looking for puffy clouds and unicorns, this is not the book for you. Your heart will hurt, your eyes will tear up, and breaks will be needed, but at least you will come out at the end of reading this book with your spirits lifted and most importantly with a feeling of hope (so hang in there).

Thank you to Philomel Books at Penguin Books for providing me with an ARC of This Impossible Light by Lily Myers in return for an honest review. ( )

Written in verse, this tells the story of 15 year old Ivy as she tries to navigate her way through her parents divorce, her BFF slipping away from her, her body changing, and keeping up appearances as the Smart Girl in school. A poignant tale that I related to on multiple levels. ( )